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Out of Alibaba Group’s six business units planning to go public, Cainiao Network Technology Co., the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., has begun preparations with banks for its Hong Kong initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said adding that banks including China International Capital Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are working with the company to prepare for the first-time share sale.
Currently valued at more than $20 billion, Cainiao is targeting a listing as soon as the end of this year, said one of the people in anonymity.
Cainiao is still unclear on the timeline and size of the IPO.
This week, Alibaba unveiled plans to split its $250 billion business into six main units encompassing e-commerce, media and the cloud, with each business exploring fundraising or IPO at an appropriate time. The tech mammoth will consider gradually giving up control of some of its main businesses, Alibaba Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang said on a conference call on Thursday, but declined to specify a timeline for any IPOs.
As per its website, Alibaba’s logistics arm promises to deliver packages within the natio in 24 hours and anywhere else in the world in 72 hours. As of March 2022, the company directly operated nine overseas sorting centers and partnered with more than 500 logistics companies globally.
